Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just purchased a pair of these rats for $40.00. I breed rosy boas and live about 1 hour east of New York City.
The person I purchased them from feeds them to his ball pythons and swears these rats do not smell anywhere near as bad as mice or rats. He told me to care/feed them the same as mice. Could someone, especially Louis Kirkland from Cornerstone Reptiles, provide a care sheet for these cute little critters. What %of protien to feed. Dog food, lab blocks etc. What ratio to keep in a 20 gallon long aquarium.Any other tips for successful breeding. Thanks, Andrew

There are a couple recent threads on these already just a little bit down the page.

I free feed them Harlan 2018 lab blocks which are 18% protein and supplement with grains like rolled oats, wheat, barley, millet and sunflower seeds. Occasional fresh vegetables when I have them like carrots, green beans, broccoli, etc.

I currently have 1.2 in a 15 gallon, use aspen shavings or chips for bedding. They love running on a wheel, I have a wodent junior wheel for them, the superpet solid plastic wheels work as well. I wouldn't use a wire wheel. They also have a wooden house/nest box that more often than not ends up turned over.

I've had them about 5-6 weeks now and still no litters, though one of the females looks quite pregnant.

We keep our breeders in trios (1.2). We house them in jumbo (20x14x6) cat litter pans. We feed all of rodents including the ASFRs, Mazuri 6F5M30 (16% protein, 6% fat) with an occasional treat of black oil sunflower seeds. I would stay with same sex ratio regardless of the cage/tub size. The few times we strayed from that ratio, productivity declined. Good luck with yours.
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Louis Kirkland
Cornerstone Reptiles

I like these rats, they seem pretty cool to work with. They're definitely not as smelly as mice. I've been told that they can breed at 5 weeks of age. They don't really seem to get that large, compared to the 'typical' lab rat which is ok. Does anyone have any experience with them in cooler climates??? I have a 1.2 trio in a blanketbox rack with back heat, and they seem to love it, especially since there's a lot of hiding spots, and plenty of papertowl rolls. I was going to put this trio in a mouce rack that I have in my basement but am hesitant to do so because I think it may be to cold for them, and since they are from Africa. I heard from my supplier that this shouldn't be an issue, but if anyone has any comments or experiences with this I'd love to hear them... Thanks...Oli
www.coolreptile.com
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1.4.10 leopard gecko
2.3.0 nephrurus levis levis
1.1.0 nephrurus wheeleri cinctus
1.1.0 nephrurus amyae
1.0 spider ball python
0.1 high contrast albino ball python
1.0 albino het ball python
1.1.0 pastel ball python
1.0.0 gargoyle gecko

The ASFR's tolerance for cooler temps has been a concern of ours since we started working with them. We keep the temps in our rodent building a minimum of 55-60 degrees in the winter and we have not seen any problems to this point.
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Louis Kirkland
Cornerstone Reptiles

OK, I don't get it. Why try to reinvent the wheel(with a bad attitude no less). Domesticated rats are larger, better behaved, cheaper...... ?

If I was going to go thru all that, I'd at least try to breed something bigger to fill the needs for the large snake owner.

DeMak

Natal rats DO NOT SMELL BAD. I clean my mice 2 times each week and they still smell up the room. I did not clean my natal rats for 2 weeks and when I put my face in the 20 gallon long aquarium I keep them in all I could smell is aspen shavings. I breed rosy and rubber boas and hognose snakes which are too small to eat an adult rat. Natal rats are known to have large litters. I still keep a colony of mice, and will feed frozen/thawed rat pups so my snakes will eat all rodents.
I have just started with natal rats and hope they will be all I expect them to be. I will post any problems and successes.For example my first litter from very young natal rats I purchased was 3 babies, I wonder if natal rats eat their first litter similar to mice. The parents are caring for the 3 babies.